In which I show you pictures of my launch party

What a cracking night it was! And the best thing about it was all the lovely, lovely people who came to celebrate with me. I wanted the party to be packed with friends, family, and those who have helped Jubilee on its way over the *mutters a large figure* years it took to write and publish it.

So there was my husband and kids, my mom and dad and brother and in-laws. There was my mate Lorraine, who started crying the moment she walked in the door and carried on doing so intermittently. There was Mary (my first English friend), and Caryl, who came over from Australia for the launch, and writing friends and reading friends, and mates I named characters after, and the exceptional Professor Martin Elliot from Great Ormond Street Hospital, which provided the model for the hospital in the book. (Yes! That link did lead you to the GOSH donations page. I hope you did something sensible while you were there.) There were the booksellers who are already enthusing about Jubilee, and the teams from Conville and Walsh and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, who have been so completely fantastic to work with.

There was my wonderful agent, Jo Unwin, and my brilliant editor, Kirsty Dunseath. Here’s Kirsty with me and Tim from The Big Green Bookshop (who sold a fair few copies on the night. He didn’t put them all on his head first, though.)

There were also themed cakes! (Note to regular readers: I’ve now mentioned cakes and shoes. You see what I did there?)

But the greatest triumph of the evening was that I only nearly cried – I managed to stave it off – when I got up for my reading and saw all the wonderful people who are part of my life, and who are so infinitely more precious than any book or ambition could ever be. And, as Kevin Rowland once said, ‘If these words sound corny, switch it off: I don’t care’. I had a great time. It was a blast. Thank you.